Eagles Chat With Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly About Coaching Opening

The Eagles will talk to former Bears coach Lovie Smith today about their coaching opening, but a surprise candidate spoke to the team yesterday.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen is reporting the team has spoken to Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly.

A person told USA TODAY Sports that Kelly is not currently in the country and will once again speak to the team when he returns. There’s no word on the true interest of Kelly wanting to leave Notre Dame, where in three seasons he’s posted a 28-11 record.

The Eagles have already looked to try to land Chip Kelly from Oregon, and talked about Penn State’s Bill O’Brien as well.

“I think the NFL right now tends to borrow more from college than the other way around,” Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said. “But I think it’s more about leadership. Some of these coaches in college are outstanding leaders. And they just go from a younger roster to a slightly older roster — still the average age is, what 26, 27, 25 in the NFL? They are dealing with 19, 20 year-olds. It’s not that big of a difference.

“There’s no question, and I’m not the only one who thinks that college coaches are well-trained and have experienced tremendous pressure, and can handle it. And they’re smart.”